SpudFiles

well i sketched out this idea during americian history friday..im sure its been tried...well ive never made a pneumanic cannon...i need some qs asked..

ok..well it consists of a psi chamber...it would have a end cap w/ a bike valve on the back...attached a bike pump..on top a psi gauge..on the opposite end one of those air compresser things...i dont know what there called but i have one...the other end of it would be epoxied in the barrel end cap...all you would have to do is pump the bike pump to the right psi indicated by the gauge and then squeeze the lever to release the air into the barrel to launch the tennis ball/other projectiles...

heres a rough sketch of what it would look like..

It is very simple but it should work.

ok...so what kind of pipe would i buy...like ABS plastic pipe or would PVC do for the pressure and would epoxy work for sealing the bike valve..or should i prob tape it w/ some teflon...im thinkin bout making this and using it for paintball games..as the LAW launcher..

It shoudl all work, but a blow gun ("air compressor thing") will NOT have sufficient power to let a tenis ball go even 2 meters. You would need a sprinkler valve.

Apart from that, it should work.

Oh...btw...epoxy shoudl work, but threading it in with teflon would save later hasstle if you wish to remove the bike pump

ok...but ive read the sprinkler valve instructions..and i really dont get it..what does it do?

EDIT: ok instead of the bike pump...i think im gonna buy one of these...

http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=902&

hello, im new to building airguns, but i am in the process of making a marble/lead ball/shot gun. The design is based on the gun on this site: http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/cannon/air_gun.html
The primary difference is that mine is full metal. The pressure chamber is made from 1 foot of 1 inch iron gas pipe with an iron cap on the end with a hole drilled to accomidate a car tire valve cut directly from a new innertube the valve is secured by that gray plumbers epoxy putty. I have an iron coupling which connects the pressure chamber to the copper reduder. the reducer assembly is soldered to the pipe going to the back of the ball valve which is screwed onto a 1/2 inch copper pipe thread adaptor attached to about 1 and3/4 inches of copper 1/2 inch piping
I'll get some pics up when i find my camera And if anyone has some advice or suggestions please reply thanks-matt

yeah, that gun is cool. that has a nice stock, and with some varnish, It would look very real

You will go through a lot of those little C02's, they are for fixing bike tire's on the trail, ?(for a quick fix). If you got a car get a little 12v plug into your ciggerett lighter socket, they work ok for cannon, just slow to fill, way faster then bike pump!
The sprinkler valve is the way for beginers to start out with, pretty much fool proof. The idea is to get as much air as possible to go out the barrel at once, sprinkler valve's work very well from what iv'e read here on spudfiles.

spray&pray wrote:ok...so what kind of pipe would i buy...like ABS plastic pipe or would PVC do for the pressure and would epoxy work for sealing the bike valve..or should i prob tape it w/ some teflon...im thinkin bout making this and using it for paintball games..as the LAW launcher..

no, yes, yes, and no lol
if u do paintball make sure your oponents don't have a paint ball gun or ur gona be very colorfull very quick.